No new computer for me.
Mar. 3rd, 2005 01:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothI've been 'needing' a new computer for a long time, where 'needing' means 'unable to play new PC games without'. I went shopping around for one sometime yesterday, and basically came to the conclusion that I could get 'a new PC' for around $600, or a 'gaming' PC for like $1200, where the 'gaming' PC would have a real video card and more than 512 MB of memory. Those two parameters seemed to be the only ones that reliably made a difference in price, although the more expensive ones also had Pentium 4 chips (Octium?) instead of Athalon or Celeron.
Then, while contemplating the purchase of one of the cheaper machines, I had a sudden vision of the future... of setting up the computer, getting all the network stuff working, installing patches and drivers and OS updates and... [shudder]
(Not to mention that to *really* be up to date I'd also need to get broadband. And comcast already rapes me enough -- apparently they're charging me more than twice as much as people who are lucky enough to have whatever it is that lets them haggle and actually get lower prices. I've tried to haggle, and either get ignored completely or am forced to cancel the purchase because they took the opportunity to jack the price up even further.
It's bad enough that car salesmen haggle, worse that electronics stores are in on it, but *cable companies*? What the fuck? If this sort of differential pricing isn't illegal, it should be, because it's flat-out discriminatory.)
So, yeah, that's the real reason I haven't bought a new computer. Effsey suggested I buy a mac instead, but the only reason I'd need a new one at all is for gaming, and a mac doesn't seem like the wisest path to take towards that end.
Then, while contemplating the purchase of one of the cheaper machines, I had a sudden vision of the future... of setting up the computer, getting all the network stuff working, installing patches and drivers and OS updates and... [shudder]
(Not to mention that to *really* be up to date I'd also need to get broadband. And comcast already rapes me enough -- apparently they're charging me more than twice as much as people who are lucky enough to have whatever it is that lets them haggle and actually get lower prices. I've tried to haggle, and either get ignored completely or am forced to cancel the purchase because they took the opportunity to jack the price up even further.
It's bad enough that car salesmen haggle, worse that electronics stores are in on it, but *cable companies*? What the fuck? If this sort of differential pricing isn't illegal, it should be, because it's flat-out discriminatory.)
So, yeah, that's the real reason I haven't bought a new computer. Effsey suggested I buy a mac instead, but the only reason I'd need a new one at all is for gaming, and a mac doesn't seem like the wisest path to take towards that end.
